Computing devices usually comprise of a hardware component and a software component. One of the basic software components is an operating system that forms an interface between one or more software applications and the hardware. Examples of popular modern operating systems for personal computers include Microsoft Windows, Apple's Mac OS X, Oracle Solaris, and GNU/Linux to name a few. Some of these operating systems such as, Hewlett-Packard HP-UX and IBM's AIX, etc. are device specific and would run only on devices or computing devices manufactured by the OS developer.
Typical software developers ship out their products (application software) using computer readable storage media, such as, a compact disc (CD) or a Digital Video Disc (DVD), etc. Such computer readable media is typically bootable that would enable a user to install the application software on a computing device. Once application software is developed, the developer keeps improvising the features and adds or modifies components of the application software to release an upgraded version of the application software.
In certain other scenarios, the installation of the application software can be done from a network or from a remote CD or DVD. For obvious reasons, a flash installation is preferred over a normal installation. In some of the operating systems, flash installation feature enables users to create a single reference installation of the operating environment on a system, which is called the master system. Subsequently, the user can replicate that installation on a number of systems, which are called clone systems. Replicating clone systems with Flash initial installation overwrites all files on the system or with a Flash update that only includes the differences between two system images (new and old version of the application software).
Conventional methods for installation of differential flash archives require a server which is an additional hardware used to install the application software over the network using Flash archive and Differential Flash archives. Yet another method for installing differential flash is Live Upgrade that works only when the existing system is already installed with application software and there is a need to change or upgrade the existing version of the application software running on the system. Such methods need either hardware at the installation site and usually take a lot of time for the system to be up and running.
Further, the above methods take a lot of time for the first time installation of the application software. A typical software installation requires the system to prompt the user for system identification requests and other installation parameters. In addition, the complete application software in current methods is installed from scratch without leaving any pre-installation procedure.
Due to at least the above-mentioned disadvantages, there is a well-felt need for systems and methods to install application software in a computing device in a time and cost efficient manner.